How do you let down an enthusiastic staff member/client know that their story isn’t, well, a story?

It’s important to manage expectations by being honest, but it’s also important that you consider if you can make suggestions about alternative communication channels.

A client once contacted me to quote on the costs of preparing a one-off, non-campaign-related media release. From the outset, I could tell my client was only acting out of obligation. She was clearly busy and thought perhaps she could outsource this story and relieve her guilt. While it was a lovely story, it wasn’t particularly newsworthy and one that even the local newspaper would unlikely pick up. The costs/time associated with generating a one-off media release weren’t matching the predicted benefits. I asked if we could perhaps instead place photo-captioned story in the staff newsletter – something that could be easily done with a guaranteed result. My client was relieved that she could meet her obligations without spending unnecessarily or being distracted by non-strategically aligned objectives.